


lights over the city (and they illuminate the stars)

by elliestars



Series: lights over the city [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergent, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Humor, also yes the top hat and bowtie king is wearing is a bill cipher reference, and ofc yeah lumity, hello gf fans, king does and fails at comedy, lights over the city, this’ll probably be canon divergent when season 2 comes along so, willow is a lil bean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27748126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliestars/pseuds/elliestars
Summary: The Summer Starlight Festival has arrived in Bonesborough! And even better, Luz decides to go with her friends, Gus, King, and Willow.And Amity, too.Although she’s not sure they’re just friends.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Series: lights over the city [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2030542
Comments: 11
Kudos: 133





	lights over the city (and they illuminate the stars)

**Author's Note:**

> yoooooo! i’m really, really tired rn when i’m formatting this fic, but it’s been three days worth of speedrunning! i’m so proud of it, so please, enjoy it!

It’s beautiful outside tonight. Beautiful, if you mean a bright blue fantasy looking moon, a giant bird carrying a dead (supposedly impaled) body, and, minus the lights from the city of Bonesborough below, the shine of a million stars.

Luz could definitely recall never seeing this many stars back on Earth. She’d read somewhere that the lights of city buildings can block out the shine of the stars, making it harder for stargazers to do their hobby properly. She guessed that the stars shine brighter on the Boiling Isles because of, simply put, magic.

She’d been relaxing in Eda’s nest for a while now. Usually, when Eda was gone, Luz would just be relaxing on the couch on the living room, watching some TV, or would probably be writing fanfiction in her own room. But she felt captivated by the stars tonight.

Of course, nothing good really lasts for long. Eda burst through the front door, yelling, “I’m home!” Hooty shot out of the door at speeds never seen before. “Oh! Hey, Eda! I was just waiting for you to get home! You had some sort of mail delivered, and I thought I’d do you a favor and take it to the kitchen!”

*cut to the package Eda had delivered for her, covered in slobber and feathers, sitting on the kitchen counter*

“Aw, thanks Hooty. You’re a dear.” Eda walked in and took her cloak off, sinking onto the couch. “Man, that was tiring. Who knew running away from the world’s slowest guards would give me a workout? Gets me thinking I should exercise more...” She trailed off, letting out a breath of relief.

Luz heard Eda downstairs and immediately came running. “Hey, Eda! I was kinda waiting for you. Hooty said he saw that someone dropped a package off here with your name on it, so, I assumed you’d be back soon.” She said, walking into the living room. “Yeah, that’s sweet, kid. Were you up in my nest?” Eda questioned.

“Er... am I, like, allowed in there, or? You kinda never laid any rules down, so I just decided it was free for me to go in there?” Luz stood there, hands behind her back, trying to think of the next best excuse as to why she’d been cooped up in a bird’s nest for the last hour.

“Yeah, you’re right. And let me guess.. you were in there, looking at the stars? You know you can’t really see them well through my windows, right?” Eda sighed. “How’d you know?” Luz responded. “Tomorrow night, the Starlight Festival happens here in Bonesborough. Only happens twice a year for one night only. It celebrates the hemispheres exchanging places. Before it happens, though, the stars shine brighter than ever before.” Eda said, tapping the Oracle Ball on the coffee table to show a live recording of downtown Bonesborough. “I guess it’s a celebration of magic enchantment of some sorts. Figured you’d be interested in it. It’s pretty neat.” Luz leaned in to look at the ball.

People were hanging up streamers, lights, and all sorts of colorful lanterns pertaining to the colors white, purple, and yellow. People were setting up stands, cleaning the streets, sending out spirits, overall preparing to make the festival awesome. It was a pretty big sight to see.

“Some people take dates to the festival. Back in my day I had quite a lot of dates ask me out.” Eda winked. “So, then.. do I just walk into the square and then I’m in the festival?” Luz asked. “Sort of. They do a kind of an admission spell to make sure you’re not gonna pull any pranks.” Eda said. Luz nodded. “Seems simple enough.” Eda put a hand to her mouth, as if she was gonna whisper a secret. “But between you and me, they never bothered to up their security system. Which is why I had quite the good time at the festival.” Eda winked again. Luz winced.

——-

Luz woke up the next morning with a warm feeling creeping up her face and light blinding her in the eyes. Sunlight started to filter through the window, and little specks of dust were becoming visible. She lifted a hand out of her sleeping bag and rubbed her forehead. Normally, immediately once she woke up, she’d be dashing out of bed to grab her Hexside uniform, and scream “CRAMITY, I’M LATE!” as she made a grand entrance down the stairs. She simply sat up in her sleeping bag and breathed in.

Of course she’d be late. She’d be surprised if Principal Bump wasn’t even going to think about expelling her for her common tardiness. But she wasn’t worried about being late to school, or even how Willow, Gus, and maybe even Amity would be waiting for her at the front steps. She sighed a hot breath and rubbed away tears forming in her eyes.

She’d.. she’d been on the Boiling Isles for a while. She knew that. According to her phone’s calendar, she’d been here for at least a month and a half. Every night, every time she tried to blink her eyes to sleep, she promised herself she’d return home at the end of summer. She’d promise herself she’d open the door to her house, and give her mom a big hug, and have a nice, hot, (actual) dinner. (Eda’s been pretty... creative with the cooking. They usually had to fend off sentient vegetable revolutions.)

And then, well, the portal home got destroyed. Ever since Eda and Lilith shared the curse, nothing’s really been the same at The Owl House. Lilith’s been sleeping on the couch in the living room (usually without a blanket), and Luz has been teaching Eda some simple glyph spells. That was two weeks ago. Now? It’s starting to hit Luz full force that she’d never see her mom again.

And that sucked. It _really_ sucked. She’ll admit it. Her and her mom never really saw eye to eye. Her mom could be bossy, and a bit angry at times, and they sometimes didn’t understand each other, but they loved each other anyways. It’s all those times they’d go shopping, or eat dinner, or play at the park together that Luz missed. And now? She wasn’t even sure she could have that again. It hit her full force in the stomach when she first thought about it the night after the portal was destroyed.

“Mami, if you’re hearing this, good morning. I hope you’re doing great.”

She sighed. Heavy as her body felt lifting it off the floor, she had to get up for the day.

Luz checked her phone.

_Friday, July 17th, 2020._

_8:15 A.M._

Luz started by lifting her Hexside uniform over her head, messing up her hair. She adjusted her sleeve and lifted her hands up to her head. As she brushed back her messy brown hair from her face, she wondered out loud. “Should I go to the festival?” Luz said, with an air of caution. Usually, with her luck, going to any sort of event would kill her. Grom? Dead. Grudgby match? Dead. This? Super dead. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t be constantly worrying about getting ruthlessly murdered every moment at the festival.

But it sounded nice. _Starlight festival._ The words rolled off her tongue. And Luz loved seeing all of those stars last night, so... what’s the fun in skipping out?

She sighed, and opened the door to walk out of the room when—

“LUZ! EDA NEEDS YOUR HELP! SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED WITH HOOTY AND—“ King was screaming at Luz to get downstairs and help with the problem they were having. Luz smiled and rolled her eyes. “King, King, sloooow down. What happened?”

King took a breath and panted for a second. “Okay, so you know how Hooty kinda eats stuff? So basically, er, he ate someone. Like, you know, someone _alive_.” Luz’s eyes widened. She grabbed King’s paw and started running downstairs.

“Hooty, if you don’t cough the innocent bystander up, I will NOT hesitate to burn you down.” Luz could hear Eda shouting from downstairs. She dashed out the front door to see the mess that was unfolding outside.

Hooty was retching and coughing, but nothing was coming out. Eda was smacking him with a broom, trying to get him to cough something up. Eda noticed Luz coming through the front door. “Luz! I need your help. Hooty ate someone and I need to get him to cough ‘em up before they get too far into the digestive tract.” Luz stared at Hooty, wide-eyed. “W-what do I need to do? Do you have, what, medicine around here? Does Hooty need a specific type of stomach medicine?” Luz started circling around Hooty. “No, actually, he just needs to cough up the dang thing. He’s being stubborn though, so watch out.” Eda replied, raising the broom cautiously over her head.

“I’m not being stubborn, you’re being stubborn!” Hooty screeched, ducking from under the broom’s radius. “Luz, grab a hold of him!” Eda yelled, running back as Hooty started heading after her. “Got it!” Luz said, grabbing a hold of the owl tube’s body, jerking Hooty back. Eda then jumped on top of Hooty’s back and pounded the broom against the tube. Hooty started coughing and hacking loudly, until—

“BLEEEGH!” A witch covered in spit and slobber lay in front of Hooty. “That felt _soooo_ much worse than eating that sparrow! Geez, remind me to never eat a witch again!” Hooty remarked, zooming back into the house. “Glad that’s over.” Eda said, sighing. She looked at Luz, eyes scanning over her uniform. “Right, uh, you need a ride to Hexside. Owlbert!” Eda called for her staff, Owlbert flying right out of the house and into Eda’s hand. “Get on, kid. You’re probably already late.” Luz nodded and hopped on the broom, and they sped away.

——-

It was.. well, quiet on the ride to Hexside. Usually, when Eda gives Luz a ride over there they’d start a conversation. It’s how they came to know each other better. But this ride, Luz was completely silent. Eda didn’t say anything either.

Owlbert suddenly came to a halt as Eda and Luz arrived at Hexside. Eda stepped off and looked off into the distance. “Well, here we are. Death by Education. Every day I wonder why you chose this school.” Eda remarked, putting her hands in her hips and sighing. She looked like she probably expected Luz to laugh. She turned towards Luz and her smile started turning down. “Hey, kid, you alright? You seem like you got something on your mind.”

Luz sighed. If Eda knew she was thinking about her mom, she wouldn’t know how to respond. Instead, another idea popped into her head.

“So, er, Eda, you know how you said last night that there would be a ‘Starlight Festival’ tonight or whatever?” Luz said, hopping off of Owlbert. Eda smiled again. “I see you’re interested?” Luz nodded, holding back a lump in her throat. “I was wondering if, well, maybe you had something for me to wear to it. I probably shouldn’t go in my Hexside uniform,” Luz said, stroking the rim of her uniform’s skirt.

“I might have a dress I bought a long time ago for the festival. I thought it looked amazing when I saw it in the shop window I bought it from, but when I tried it on, it definitely wasn’t my style. Right now, it’s buried in my closet somewhere, but I could try and see if I could dig it up.” Eda said, scratching the back of her head. “Maybe it might fit you.” Luz smiled. “Should King come with me? I’m not really sure if he’d want to come or not..” She said, crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow.

“Well, King doesn’t really have a say in the matter. With the hemispheres exchanging, new magic becomes present throughout the isles. The previous magic wears off, and my house’s defense system is rendered useless. I’ll need to do the renewal enchantment, and I don’t want King to stand around having nothing to do while I’m outside performing the spell.” Eda continued, lifting her hands off of her hips and hopping back on Owlbert. “Now, if I want to be able to complete the spell by dawn, I’ll have to get the materials now. See you after school!” She said, flying away.

Luz sighed as she watched Eda speed away on Owlbert. She then turned around, and started walking onto the front steps of Hexside. _Maybe,_ she thought, _tonight could clear my head._

“Luz! Hey! Over here!” Luz perked her head up at the sound of Gus calling her. He had a huge smile on his face.

“Hey, Gus!” Luz exclaimed back, walking towards his direction inside the school. “What’s got you excited today?”

Gus looked like he could barely contain his excitement. “Haven’t you heard? The Starlight Festival is tonight! It’s the Boiling Isles’s social event of the year!” Gus said, making illusion confetti appear with a movement of his hand.

“I thought you said Grom was the social event of the year,” Luz responded.

“Well, it is, but it’s kind of Hexside-exclusive. No other school on the BL has the Grom. The Starlight Festival is celebrated all around the Isles, two times a year!” Gus exclaimed. “It’s a big event. People from all around attend it! Aaaaand—“ He said, pulling out something white from his backpack, “I’m finally able to go this year!” Gus continued. He unfurled the clump of white fabric in his hands to reveal it was a tuxedo.

“Why weren’t you able to go before?” Luz asked, eyeing the tux.

Gus sighed. “My dad’s usually broadcasting something else on the day of the festival. But this year, my dad’s gonna be the one reporting at the festival, which means I’m able to go with him!” He said, shoving the tuxedo back in his backpack. Luz wanted to ask why Gus brought his tuxedo with him in the first place, but she decided to just stay quiet.

“Eda actually told me about the festival last night. She told me the stars exchange places on that night, and before that happens, they shine brighter than ever before.” Luz said. “She said she had a dress I could wear to the festival, and that she’ll have to dig it out of her closet.”

Gus’s face lit up. “You’re going? Amazing! Now me, you, and Willow can be the ultimate festival trio!” He exclaimed happily.

“Willow’s going too?” Luz responded.

“Yep! She’s currently in the greenhouse feeding the flesh-ripping roses. She said that she’d try and practice her corsage-making skills at the festival.” Gus said.

“Willow has been getting a lot better at that,” Luz said, starting to walk to her locker. “How about you continue talking to me while I go to my locker? Class is starting soon, so I’ll have to get my books.”

Gus nodded, following after her, and continuing to ramble on about the history of the Starlight Festival.

——-

While her and Gus walked to her locker, Luz noticed something. The halls of Hexside were definitely more chatty than usual.

Gus had mentioned earlier that the Starlight Festival was a major social event, but Luz sort of imagined the festival as an event reserved for nerds and upperclassmen. But everyone, even freshmen at Hexside was talking about it.

Luz hadn’t seen the school buzzing like this since Grom happened.

And as she continued walking down the halls, the streamers of purple, white, and yellow decorating the halls, as well as the illusionist stars and banners saying “Starlight Festival” became more and more common.

Gus continued to ramble about the history of the starlight festival to Luz as she approached her locker. She knew she wouldn’t remember a whole lot of it, but she smiled and nodded and listened anyway. Luz was more focused on the people surrounding her.

People proposing to dates for the starlight festival, outfits being shown off left and right, Penstagram posting, Magic practicing. The school seemed... alive. More alive than usual, at least. Which was a lot. Luz couldn’t tell half the time, with almost everything being sentient on the Boiling Isles.

Luz arrived at her locker, tickling the mouth of the beast, and catching her books as it spit them out.

“—And that’s how the Starlight Festival came to be. Can you imagine it? All the BL’s magic siphoned into one night, and a festival being held on that night by the richest and most powerful witches on the BL? It’s enough to make a historian swoon,” Gus sighed dreamily. Luz nodded, flipping through her school schedule.

She turned to Gus. “So, are you going with anyone to the festival?” Luz said, subconsciously. She was far more focused looking at her schedule for the day.

Gus thought for a second. “You know, I never really thought about it. I’ve always considered myself a one-man act. You get what I’m saying?” He replied.

“Mhm,” Luz responded. “Aw, heck. I got bard class on my schedule for today.” She said, sighing.

“What’s so bad about that?” Gus asked, scratching his head.

“I don’t understand how bard magic works. The teacher plays some really bad music, and then with a twirl of their finger, it sounds good? How’s that supposed to work?” Luz growled.

“I’d like to answer you, but I don’t actually study bard magic.” Gus said.

“I’m barely even passing the class anyways. Music isn’t an essential skill on the Isles, right?” Luz asked, slipping her schedule paper back into one of her textbooks.

“I mean, unless you’re planning on becoming a musician.” Gus responded. “Which is actually a very proficient career. You know what? Maybe it is.” He said

Luz winced. “So, er, anyways, is Willow going with anyone to the festival?” She asked, obviously trying to change the topic.

“I’m not sure. I’ve heard some people wanting to ask her, but I don’t know if she’s accepted any proposals yet.” Gus replied. “Willow’s told me before she isn’t really interested in taking dates to the festival. She just wants to have fun.”

Luz nodded, turning to face Gus, books in her hand. “I mean, if I was invited to an astrology-based festival, I’d have lots of fun too.”

Gus sighed.

“It’s a lot more fun than she’s had at the festival before.” He said, flatly.

“Wait, Willow’s never had fun at the Starlight Festival before? This is Willow we’re talking about.” Luz said, her nose scrunching up.

“It’s not Willow herself. She’d try to have fun at the festival, but every time she showed up, Boscha’s gang was there to pick on her. Especially Amity.” Gus responded, crossing his arms. “It got nearly to the point where she spent almost the entire last festival sobbing in her dress, afraid to come out.” He continued, his tone softening.

Luz’s smiled instantly disappeared. “That’s terrible.” She put a hand on Gus’s shoulder.

Gus sighed. “I know. But, the thing is, ever since Willow and Amity started piecing back together their friendship, Willow’s grown more confident. And now, she’s looking forward to the festival.” He said, a smile reappearing on his face.

Luz clapped. “That’s great! I was afraid for a second I was gonna have to hug Willow to death, but now I can squish her a normal amount!” She smiled.

Gus cheered too. “Even better, I think Amity said she was going as well! I’m not exactly sure whether she cleared it up, but Willow told me there’s a chance she might be able to make it! Now our best friend trio can be a best friend quartet!” He cheered.

Luz stood there, thinking. “Wait, Amity’s going? I thought she said she was busy studying for the Abomination course midterms.”

“Yeah, but she mentioned she could set aside a day for the festival. Plus, she said she’s funding whatever food we eat there, so we can have as much as we want!” Gus boasted.

Luz laughed. “Don’t eat too much. I remember going to a party funded by a wealthy family, and I ate so much that I threw up! My mom was not happy! She had to pay for all of my vomit!” She giggled. “Speaking of, where exactly is Amity?”

Gus thought for a second. “She’s probably at class right now. She always comes early, I know that.”

Luz shrugged. “I thought she always made a point to be on time. But I guess being early works too. You think she’ll sit with us at lunch?”

“Probably. I’ve got to get to class now, though. See you then!” Gus said, shifting his books in his arms and running, as the class bell started to scream.

Luz clasped her books tighter to her chest and headed off to class. _Here’s to hoping lunch happens soon,_ she thought as she walked.

——-

“Viney, are you _sure_ you’re okay with doing this? Puddles is kind of huge, you know,” Jerbo said, ducking under the spray of the water.

Viney laughed. “I’m absolutely sure! Puddles will look great in her Starlight Festival outfit! But I have to clean her off first!” She said, turning up the knob on the hose.

Puddles shook all the water and soap off of herself and growled.

“And can you please hurry up? I can’t keep these towels dry much longer with Puddles splashing water everywhere! AAH!” Jerbo shrieked, diving behind the towel rack.

“Aw, she looks so nice!” Viney said, admiring her work, as a soaked Puddles stood licking her wing.

“Jerbo, can you hand me one of the towels?” Viney said, grabbing a brush.

“Here you go,” Jerbo handed Viney one of the towels nervously, then ducked away behind the rack again while she brushed Puddles.

“All done and dry!” Viney said, rubbing the last part of Puddles’s beak dry. “Hmm... Hey, Jerbo! Ya think Puddles could pull off hair dye?” She yelled to Jerbo, who was still hiding behind the rack.

“I think she could, but she looks best as is. Plus, we can’t spend all day behind the school. And if I don’t change soon, I think this uniform is gonna be stuck to my skin.” Jerbo responded, walking over to Puddles and patting her wing’s fluffed feathers.

“Good point.” Viney replied, tying a knotted bowtie around Puddles’s neck.

“We’re gonna have to head to lunch soon. Plus, Barkus said he needed help with one of his projects. He said his homework potion recipe required Unaglow Flowers. I don’t even know what those are!” Jerbo scrunched his nose and crossed his arms.

“Uh huh, sounds nice, Jerbs.” Viney absentmindedly responded, fitting a top hat upon Puddles’s head.

“Plus, he said the project’s due in two days! He couldn’t have asked me to help him earlier?” Jerbo sighed angrily.

“Why’d you agree to help him out if you obviously didn’t want to?” Viney looked over at Jerbo, who was pouting.

“You can’t refuse to help a friend! That’s like, betrayal of rule 250 of the Best Friend Code!” Jerbo said.

“Look, Jerbs, if you don’t want to help Barkus with his project, you could just say no. It’s not that hard.” Viney replied, giving Puddles a scratch underneath her chin.

“Fine then. If you don’t have faith in me, I guess this is a quest which I must complete myself. I will find that flower and help my best friend!” Jerbo shouted triumphantly, throwing his hand in the air.

“Nice, nice. So, how does Puddles look?” Viney stepped back, admiring her work.

Puddles sat down and scratched a flea off of her face with her back leg.

Jerbo winced. “She looks.. _nice?_ ”

Viney smiled. “Great! She needs to look her best tonight for Emira, so I thought maybe dressing her up for the occasion would be a selling point.”

Jerbo was taken aback. “Wait, Emira? As in _Emira Blight?_ You’re joking, Viney.”

“Nope! She asked me to be her date to the festival! I’m hoping this impresses her.” Viney said, twirling a stringlet of hair in her hand and smiling like an idiot.

Jerbo then got it.

“Oh, so you two like each other! That makes sense. I thought for a second she was supporting you financially.” Jerbo said, putting his hands on his hips.

Viney’s face turned red. “What? No, _pssh,_ I don’t like her! I just— I accepted her invitation because she was— you know— she was really nice about it!” Viney exclaimed, crossing her arms.

Jerbo smiled condescendingly. “Oh, so she _is_ paying you a fortune to take her to the festival?” He nudged Viney in the arm. “Come on, Vines. If you like her, then tell her! Well, I mean, tell me first. I wanna know all about this.”

Viney grumbled. “I’ve kinda-sorta-maybe liked her for a while—“

Jerbo’s face lit up. “Really?”

Viney sighed. “But she’s rich, a-and pretty, and smart and— Gosh, I don’t know about this. I mean, she’s a _Blight,_ the most prestigious family on the Isles. It’s not like I could date her, or whatever, even if she liked me. Which I doubt she does.” She sighed and her eyes began to form tears.

Jerbo put a hand on her shoulder. “Trust me. As long as you just be yourself and go with your gut, I’m sure she’ll like you back. You’re a pretty amazing person, Vines. There’s no way she wouldn’t like you.” He said, smiling.

“You really think that?” Viney sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye.

“I know that. Now come on, if we don’t go now, we’re gonna be late for lunch!” Jerbo said, running over to grab Puddles’s leash. “Wait, do you actually want to her wear this outfit to lunch?” Jerbo asked, staring at the tiny little top hat fit tightly over Puddles’s head.

“Yeah, she looks good with it. Also, I don’t think it’s coming off without a fight.” Viney said.

She stepped closer to whisper into Jerbo’s ear. “I think she’s grown attached to it.” They both eyed Puddles, who was ripping apart a butterfly that had landed on her top hat. They both winced.

“Anyways,” Jerbo said, attaching the leash around Puddles’s neck, “We should get going to lunch now.” Viney nodded, grabbing the leash, and they walked to the cafeteria, Puddles in tow.

——-

Luz walked into the cafeteria, a pit of emptiness in her stomach. Food was definitely the first thing on her mind right now, but instead of going straight to the lunch line, she looked around.

Everywhere, groups of people sat at different tables, chatting away, presumably about the festival. There was a clear divide to who sat at which tables. The nerds, the bookies, the goths, and especially, Boscha’s gang. Each social hierarchy with each respective table. It was kind of satisfying to look at.

Luz strolled up to the lunch line, picking up a tray and feeling wet mushy ‘food’ get dropped on it. She looked behind her.

Then there was her table, with Willow and Gus, who were both currently sitting there, talking and eating. Her table was the only one that didn’t fit into a social group.

Willow and Gus waved at her. She smiled.

Luz set her tray of food down on the cafeteria table. “Hey, Luz! Nice to see you again!” Gus said with a mouthful of food.

“Hey, Gus! Hey, Willow!” Luz waved back, smiling.

“Oh, Hiya Luz! Sorry I didn’t get to see you much today, the plants at the greenhouse needed some trimming done to their vines, so I had to come a little early.” Willow grinned, digging a fork into her food.

“Nah, it’s fine. Class has been pretty hard for me today. I had the Bard track on my schedule today. I ended strangling a weird violin. How was your day, Gus?” Luz said, sticking a forkful of ‘meat’ into her mouth.

“Amazing! We learned all about how the arrangement of the stars makes Illusionists more powerful, and how tonight, we’ll be able to perform magic like we’ve never dreamed!” Gus exclaimed, putting a foot on the table triumphantly.

Willow cleared her throat. “Gus, you’re not supposed to put your feet on the table.”

Gus immediately sunk back into his chair. “Right.”

Luz put her hands together. “So, I heard both of you are attending the-a Starlight Fest?” She said, smirking.

Gus nodded excitedly. “I mean, you already know that, but I’m just so excited that I get to go this year!”

Luz looked at Willow. “What about you? I heard you’re looking forward to the festival,” Luz grinned.

“You bet I am! I even get to test out my plant magic! How cool is that?” Willow said, twirling her finger and making a small flower bracelet appear on her hand.

“So, in that case, Willow, is there anyone you wanted to ask out?” Luz replied, grinning coyly.

Willow blushed. “That’s nice, but no. I’ve had so many people ask me, but I just want to have fun with my friends at the festival. You guys are the best dates I could ask for.” She said, holding both Gus and Luz’s hands.

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you!” Gus said, tearing up.

Luz sniffled, also tearing up. “You’re our not-date too, Willow.”

Willow giggled, then slid her hands back to herself. A thoughtful expression spread across her face.

“Although, you know, Amity’s actually looking to ask someone out to the festival. She told me that she’d been wanting to ask them out for a while now, but she was too afraid to.” Willow said, crossing her arms and grinning.

Luz gasped. “Really? That’s amazing! Oh, I hope she doesn’t get rejected, that would be terrible!”

Willow turned her head to the side. “Speaking of Amity, here she is.”

——-

_Alright, Amity, you can do this. You can do this._

Amity stood at the edge of the table where Luz, Willow, and Gus sat.

She looked down at her lunch tray.

She cleared her throat and breathed in.

“Uh, uhm, uh, errrrr....uh..... c-can I sit here?” She managed to utter. _Nice job, idiot._

Willow stared at her. “Of course you can.”

Amity sighed, and sat down next to Luz, pushing her tray in front of herself and staring at it awkwardly.

 _Well, Amity thought. This is it. You’re gonna ask her. All you have to do is play it cool, and not make a complete fool of yourself again._ Amity sucked her breath in, and smiled.

The table went silent.

“So, uh, hey, are all of you guys going to the festival? I mean—ugh, that’s a stupid question, I shouldn’t have asked that—“ Amity tried to awkwardly converse with everyone at the table. _Cramity, did I really just say that?_

“Yep! Including me! Eda told me about the festival last night and I thought it sounded cool.” Luz said, shoving another mouthful of potatoes into her mouth.

“That’s uh—that’s amazing, Luz. Hope that turns out well for you.” Amity laughed nervously. _Alright, you’re beating around the bush now, but it’s a start._

“Yeah! Eda said she had a dress she bought a while back, and that she’d dig it up for me so I could wear it!” Luz replied, smiling. “So, what are you wearing?”

“Well, my mom got me this dress, and uh—you know, it’s uh— it’s great. It’s purple and uh, you know, expensive. Hah. Yeah.” Amity struggled to form a coherent sentence. _You know you hate that dress so much._

“That’s great! I’m sure you’d look amazing in whatever you wear!” Luz responded, her mouth full of food.

Amity’s face went red. _D-Did she really just say that? I mean—compliments are probably Luz’s thing—um—ugh, just say something!_

“T-thanks, Luz.” Amity stared at her food with widened eyes. _Nailed it._

Gus and Willow were silently watching this unfold.

“So, Amity.” Luz started, finishing off her food, and pushing her tray aside. “Willow said you were looking for a certain someone to ask to the festival.” Luz winked.

Amity glared at Willow. _SERIOUSLY? YOU TOLD HER?_

Willow must’ve seen Amity’s reaction, because she responded with a condescending smile and a wink.

Amity gasped. _SHE KNOWS? This is bad. Oh, this is so, SO bad. Just avoid the topic!_ “Uh-you-well, you know— it’s uhm—uh—“

“Did it go well?” Luz gasped. “Oh no. Did it not go well? Did they reject you? Oh my gosh, Amity, I’m so sorry—“

_Wait, so she doesn’t know I wanted to ask her out?_

“Uh, uh,— Yeah, uh, they rejected me, yeah. Really— _really_ badly,” Amity ‘winced’, staring at her lap. _Nice save._

“Are you okay? You—you look like you’re gonna cry— are you gonna cry? _Am I gonna need to be the emotional support crying shoulder?”_ Luz asked firmly.

“No, it’s just— I guess it would be nice to have someone to go with. Maybe just to make this night go a little more perfect,” Amity said, frowning. _I mean, going with Luz would make the Starlight Festival infinitely more perfect. She’s cute, she’s funny, but what if she says no? I mean, it’s not like I’m outright asking her—_

Amity’s panicking was interrupted by Luz.

“I mean, if you really want someone to go with you, I could.” Luz’s smile softened, and she put a hand on Amity’s shoulder.

Gus opened his mouth to speak, but Willow covered it.

Amity looked at Luz. _Did she just say yes? But I didn’t even ask her—why are you even questioning this? You got the answer you wanted. Talk, dangit!_

“You would?” Amity asked, a smile forming on her face.

“I would.” Luz responded, letting go of Amity’s shoulder and standing up.

“Plus, it helps to be close to the person who’s buying the food.” Luz said, making fingerguns at Amity and picking up her tray to take to the trash.

 _Typical Luz,_ Amity thought.

Gus looked at his empty bag of food. “Looks like I’ll be right back, I have to throw this out.” He followed behind Luz.

_Great, now they’re both out of earshot._

Amity sat frozen in her seat, unable to move. She hadn’t eaten a bite of her lunch. Her face was red and her eyes were wide. _You really used the wrong formula and got the right answer, huh?_

Willow inched closer to Amity and put a hand on her shoulder.

“You know, that could’ve gone so much worse.” She said, gently rubbing Amity’s shoulder, a look of smugness on her face.

“How else was I supposed to tell her? Haven’t you noticed how she reacts to me? It’s like she doesn’t even notice what I’m doing!” Amity sighed, stuffing a bunch of food into her mouth and then faceplanting into her tray.

Willow sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well, on the bright side, now you’ve asked her out.”

Amity groaned. “I still can’t believe you told Luz. That was my call! I had this one in the bag!” She retorted, her words muffled by wet mush.

“Not to be rude, but had I not told her, it wouldn’t have crossed her mind. But look on the bright side! Now she’s your date to the festival!” Willow said, congratulating Amity.

“First Grom, now this? If this goes on, I’ll have to pretend to get rejected to get her to be my girlfriend!” Amity said, raising her face out of the mush and throwing her hands in the air. “It’s gotta stop at some point, you know.”

Willow smiled painfully. “Trust me, she’ll realize she likes you soon. Just give it time.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be holding my breath. Luz probably doesn’t even notice how I’m acting.” Amity crossed her arms, sighing.

——-

“I don’t know. Is it just me or was Amity acting weird?” Luz asked Gus, who was busy trying to scrape wet meat off his plate.

“She looked embarrassed the whole time you were talking to her.” Gus replied, finally flicking the meat off of his plate and into the trash.

“You think maybe she failed a test? If I was top student, I’d be mortified.” Luz said, dumping the remains of her plate into the trash.

“Or maybe she slipped on a banana peel earlier, then proceeded to faceplant herself into another student’s hard-worked pyrotechnical project, fire exploding in her face.” Gus said, staring at Luz.

“Uh, that’s kind of oddly specific.” Luz retorted.

“I’ve seen some things.” Gus stared down existentially.

Luz sighed, and started to walk out of the cafeteria. She had another class for the Oracle track to get to, and she didn’t want to be late.

But she was unable to shake off the way Amity acted around her.

_“Uh-you-well, you know— it’s uhm—uh—“_

_“Well, my mom got me this dress, and uh—you know, it’s uh— it’s great. It’s purple and uh, you know, expensive. Hah. Yeah.”_

_“That’s uh—that’s amazing, Luz. Hope that turns out well for you.”_

_Why was she stumbling on her words? And why did her face keep going red? Was it maybe something I said? D-did I embarrass her?_ Luz gasped and facepalmed. _Oh my gosh, if I embarrassed her—and I wouldn’t even have noticed it! I’m such an idiot.._

Luz tried to shake off every single thought about Amity. _Focus. You gotta get to class. Hopefully this is something you can worry about later._

Much, _much,_ later.

——-

“Eda! King! I’m hoooome!” Luz exclaimed, throwing open the front door.

“HOOOT! I’m trying to sleep here!” Hooty screeched, waking up from his ‘2:30 nap’. _Do house demons even sleep?_ Luz always wondered.

“Hey Luz! How was school?” King asked, peeking up from watching videos of cats fighting on Luz’s phone.

“It was... hard, but I got through it.” Luz said, walking into the house and plopping down on the couch next to King. “And how’s my little terrifying ruler?” She said, scratching the back of King’s neck.

King giggled and sighed. “Eda’s been rummaging through the house all day, opening up closets and chests, throwing things out on the floor. It’s a mess!” King said, pointing to the large heap of junk spread out across the living room and winding up the stairs.

Luz grimaced. “Well, what’s she looking for, anyways?”

King shrugged. “Don’t know. Eda told me she was looking for something special. I’m just annoyed she keeps digging up owl pellets. They keep sticking to me.” King grunted, pulling a mossy greaseball off of his fur.

Luz thought for a second. _Maybe Eda’s looking for ingredients for her spell. She did say she’d have to find all the ingredients to complete the spell before dawn._

“Is Eda currently in her room?” Luz asked, staring at the trash pile covering the stairs.

“Last time I saw her, she was. I can’t see anything past the stairs. If you’re lucky, you can get to her before she buries herself in junk.” King retorted, unfocused from what he was watching.

“I’ll see if I can ask her what she’s trying to dig up. Don’t watch videos for too long, it’ll hurt your eyes!” Luz yelled at King as she walked towards the stairs, and took her first few steps up.

“This puny light box cannot blind me!” King said, super absorbed into a video of cats getting spooked by cucumbers. “Hah! You cower before the snake with no face!” He yelled, throwing a fist up in the air.

Luz snickered, and turned around to face the looming pile of trash in front of her. She winced and gulped. “Looks like it’s gonna be an adventure getting up the stairs.” She took the first step, and felt her shoe touch something... _squishy?_ She wasn’t looking down to find out.

Step after step, her feet cleared small piles of dust, clothing, jewelry, discarded potion bottles, you name it. Everything was sprawled out on the stairs. It was only a little bit of walking later before the sounds of the foyer blacked out and all Luz could hear was the echo of the breathing walls. _How long is this stairway?_ Luz thought as she made her way up. Her hand brushed against something sticking to the wall. It felt... crunchy. The sound of a crinkle made Luz cringe. Worse yet, she could feel a beetle skittering around the object.

Nope, she was wrong.

It was several beetles.

Luz panicked and bolted the rest of the way up the stairs. She was pretty sure her shoes would never be clean again.

She reached past the top step and panted.

It. Smelled. _Awful._

The upstairs hallway reeked of mildew and crusted-over spider milk, which gave it the pleasant waft of a skunk’s butt. Luz covered her face and coughed.

Why didn’t she think to wear a hazmat suit before coming up here?

But, alas, she pushed onward, putting a hand to the wall, walking around the junk, and clearing the dust out of the air. She could barely see, there was so much of it.

She kept walking and walking down the hall, feeling around the wall, until—

_SMACK!_

Luz hit a door.

She felt around for a knob, and turned it slowly, bracing herself for the inevitable wave of trash that would come roaring out. She turned the knob, and felt a warm light sting her face, blinding her eyes. She could see a figure moving across the room crazily, frantically throwing things left to right. She put her hand to her eyes to block out the light.

Luz focused her vision. _Wait, is that—_

“Eda? What are you doing?” Luz called out, stepping into the room.

“Oh, hey Luz! I was doing a little spring cleaning before you came home. You know how messy this house gets.” Eda waved to Luz, knee deep in garbage bags and whatnot.

Luz looked down and cringed. “I think you’re kind of doing the opposite of whatever cleaning is,” She replied, shaking a bit of moss off her foot.

Eda sighed. “Well, when you’ve got items you’ve moved house with more times than you can count, you tend to have a hard time cleaning them up.” She said, diving into the pile to dig out something else.

_‘Items you’ve moved house with more times than you can count?’_

_Eda definitely wasn’t doing spring cleaning._

Luz cleared her throat.

“So, Eda, what exactly are you doing that you have to tear apart the house for?” Luz said, waiting for an answer.

Eda’s legs tried to pull her out of the nook she was wedged into. “I already told you, spring cleaning. Either it’s the sound of your voice being muffled by this trash or you seriously just asked a question I already answered.” She said, pulling her head out of the pile.

“Eda, it’s the middle of summer.” Luz retorted, crossing her arms. “What are you even doing?”

Eda sighed, looking over at Luz. “Alright, well, I can see you want the truth. I’ve been digging all this mess out so I could find that dress I said I’d get you.” She thrust her hands into the pile behind her, digging out pieces of jewelry.

Luz gasped. “I thought you were looking for the ingredients for the protection spell you were doing tonight. Why would you try and look for the dress you were going to give me first?”

Eda smiled. “Well, I thought getting you the dress would be more important. Besides, while nearly ripping the house to shreds, I found everything I needed for the spell.”

Luz chuckled. “Did you find the dress yet?”

Eda sighed. “No. I’ve looked everywhere else in the house for it. My room’s the last place it could be. By the way, have you seen Lilith? I’m pretty sure she was in the bathroom the last time I saw her, but that was hours ago. I hope she’s not stuck in there, that door’s jammed from all the junk I threw in front of it.”

Luz looked around and rolled her eyes. “Maybe she left.”

——-

(Meanwhile, in the bathroom)

“EDALYN CLAWTHORNE, I HAVE BEEN IN HERE ALL MORNING! IF YOU DON’T GET ME OUT OF HERE THIS INSTANT I WILL KILL YOU!” Lilith screamed, throwing her body against the bathroom door.

——-

Eda shrugged. “Eh, I’m sure she’s fine.”

Eda whipped her head to the side at the sight of something sparkly and white.

She squinted her eyes and crouched down, reaching towards a small box crammed in between several piles of dresses and shoes.

“Could this be—“ Eda said, dusting off the box and grabbing it. She opened it up.

She smiled.

“Hey Luz, here’s your present.” Eda stepped over the piles of discarded junk and handed the box to Luz.

“Is this the dress?” Luz asked, motioning her hand to lift open the box.

“Wait just a second, kid.” Eda put her hand on the lid of the container. “Don’t open it just yet. It’s more special if you wait to see it until you put it on. There’s a pair of shoes in there, as well.” She smiled at Luz.

“Thanks, Eda. This means a lot to me.” Luz said, beaming.

Eda patted Luz’s head, messing up her hair. “No problem, kid.” She looked around at her room. “Well, looks like we got one heck of a mess to clean up. Wanna help me with this one?”

“You bet!” Luz exclaimed.

——-

(A brief six hour long cleaning montage later, which involved King latching on to a mop and being dragged around on the floor, Luz walking right into a spider web, and Lilith breaking down the door to the bathroom exasperatedly with a fire spell in her hand, only to find nothing blocking the door’s way)

——-

Eda fell onto the couch and yawned. “Wuff. Cleaning sure gets me beat. I could sure go for some food right now.”

King lifted his face up from Luz’s phone. “You said it, sister.”

Luz strolled downstairs and stared directly at King, the white box in her hands. “You didn’t even help, King.”

“I sure did! Getting attacked by a mop isn’t easy you know, I had to fight for my life!” King shouted, putting his hands on his hips.

Lilith walked downstairs and stood next to Luz, brushing the dust off of her sleeves and dress. “So, Edalyn, are you ready to perform the spell?”

Eda groaned. “Right.” She stepped off of the couch and looked at Luz. “It’s getting kind of late. If you want to make it to the Starlight Festival in time, you might want to start getting ready now, Luz.”

Luz looked at the white box in her hands. “I’ll be downstairs in a little bit to show you my outfit then, everyone.” She headed upstairs.

Lilith grinned at Eda. “I see you’ve adopted her?”

Eda chuckled. “I haven’t signed any legal documents yet, but in a sense, she’s like a daughter to me.”

King rolled his eyes from where he was sitting. “You two are too sappy for my own good. I can’t believe I’m staying home from the festival for this.”

Eda smiled. “Actually, King, you’re going with Luz to the festival. I can’t have you standing around here doing diddly-squat while me and Lilith perform the spell.”

King shot up from the couch. “Really?”

Eda snorted. “Of course! Even better, Luz picked out an outfit for you too! It’s absolutely amazing.”

King’s happy expression turned to one of dread. “Oh no. Not outfits.”

Lilith snickered. “Oh yes, outfits. You’ll look so cute with it on.”

King started scurrying away. “THE KING OF DEMONS DOES NOT LOOK CUT— Ow!” His escape was stopped by Hooty.

“Hooty? Why are you blocking my path?” King said, the terror in his tone slowly rising. “I thought we were comrades! Remember? We defeated the boot camp together!”

“Sorry King, It’s nothing personal. Eda told me you’d try to escape, so I’m afraid I can’t let that happen.” Hooty said, unfurling from the house door. His grotesque presence encased King.

“Eda! Lilith! Please don’t do this to me!!” King yelled, banging on Hooty’s tubey exterior.

“You’re gonna look adorable, King!” Eda shouted, and it was at that time her voice faded away.

King knew what was coming next.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

——-

Luz stepped closer to the mirror hanging up on the wall of her room. She breathed in.

“Alright Luz, ready to see how this thing looks on you?” She said to herself.

She fluttered open her eyes, looking at the mirror.

Staring back at her was a girl with a slightly messy overgrown pixie cut, white flats, and a short sleeveless knee-length white dress, glittering with light yellow stars spread across the chest. Pastel yellow ribbons tied to the shoulder pulled together the look.

The only thing illuminating Luz’s room was a string of white fairy lights rung around the walls, and the half-melted candles sitting in the window, but Luz could see her dress dazzling in the mirror just fine.

It was... magical.

Luz twirled around on her shoes, admiring her dress. She softly smiled.

“It’s perfect.” She said, tucking a stringlet of hair behind her ear.

Luz heard her door creak, and she snapped her head around.

“Uh, do I look okay? I kind of didn’t have anyone to help me fit this on, so....” King walked into her room, trying to adjust his bowtie, and making sure his top hat didn’t fall off his head.

“King, you look amazing!” Luz said, putting her hands together and smiling.

“I do?” King replied, eyeing himself.

“C’mon.” Luz guided King over to the mirror.

“Wow, I do look great!” King exclaimed, striking pose after pose, admiring his work.

Luz chuckled. “Alright, I think we should be heading out now if we want to make it to downtown Bonesborough by 9,” She said, grabbing her bag and strutting to the door.

“Hey, King, you coming?” Luz asked, looking over at King, who was still looking at himself in the mirror.

“Yeah.” King responded, walking over to where Luz was and closing the door behind them.

—

“Alright. So I picked up a flyer at school today, and it had the map leading to where the festival was. We should be able to get there pretty quickly if we follow it,” Luz said, walking downstairs and eyeing the flyer in her hands.

“Heyyyy Eda! Lilith! How do I look?” King boasted, modeling off his look.

Eda and Lilith were mixing brews together, but they both looked up at the sight of King and Luz.

“King, you look adorable. You’re killing it with the bowtie.” Eda said, winking.

“You look great, King.” Lilith said, clapping.

King giggled. “You think I’m amazing? Take a look at Luz!”

“Wait-wha?” Luz said, breaking her focus from reading the flyer.

King tugged her hand. “Show them your outfit!” He whispered.

“Oh , right!” Luz said, twirling around. “How do I look?”

Eda’s face lit up and she smiled. “You definitely pull off the dress better than me. I think it’s meant for you.” She said, proudly.

Lilith was beaming too. “You look stellar, Luz.”

Luz blushed. “Aw, shucks.”

King cleared his throat. “Now, we must go onward! To the festival, Luz The Human!” King yelled, tugging Luz’s hand, and pulling her towards the door.

“Uhh, I guess we’re going now! Bye, Eda! Bye, Lilith!”

Eda waved back. “Be back by midnight! And uh, King?”

King was almost out the door, but he turned his head around. “Yeah?”

“Don’t try any funny business at the festival.” Eda deadpanned.

King gulped.

“Uh—Absolutely! Wouldn’t dream of it!” He said, sprinting out the door, shutting it behind him.

“You think he’s gonna do something stupid?” Lilith asked Eda.

“Oh yeah, totally.” Eda responded.

——-

Amity breathed in, and brushed off her sleeves. Leaning into her vanity’s mirror, she adjusted her half-up hairstyle, trying to make it as level as possible.

She hated her dress and this stupid hairstyle.

“Mom and Dad aren’t here, so it won’t hurt if I—“

She tugged the hairtie off, and short locks of minty green hair came falling in front of her face.

“That’s better.” She grabbed a brush and parted her hair behind her ear, and stared at herself in the mirror.

Her long-poofy sleeved dress, a grape juice purple, was adorned with sparkling constellation-shaped diamonds. The centerpiece was sparkling rhombus-cut diamond specimen. Hanging from both of her ears were probably the heaviest crystal teardrop earrings she’d ever worn.

What’s one word Amity would use to describe her outfit?

 _Gaudy. Overdecorated._ Or just the simplest definition, _Perfect._

She opened a small drawer in her vanity, and looked at a pair of yellow pearly star-shaped earrings.

 _How long has it been since I’ve worn these?_ Amity thought, teasing the thought of putting them on. She really liked those earrings.

 _Ugh, they don’t match my outfit anyways,_ She sighed, putting the earrings in her pockets.

Amity got up from her chair and tapped the soles of her heels together. She breathed in. _Finally, a moment of peace and qui—_

“Amity, have you seen my chiffon? The stupid thing’s gone missing from my closet, and I think Edric took it.” Emira burst into Amity’s room, her white dress swishing at her feet. _I can’t tell if she’s attending a wedding or a festival_ , Amity thought.

“Uh-uh! I did not take it! I don’t know why you’d assume that!” Edric yelled from across the hall.

“You would! I keep seeing you steal capes from my room!” Emira dashed into the hall.

Amity sighed, getting up and walking out of her room, peering at what was going down in the hall.

“Admit it! You took my chiffon because you thought it’d like nice with your tuxedo!” Emira yelled, throwing her hands in the air.

“I’m not even wearing it! And if I was, it would heavily contrast my tux! That’s simple fashion common sense!” Edric retorted, pointing at his outfit, which matched Emira’s.

“What do you mean ‘fashion common sense’? You don’t have any!” Emira argued back. “I’m trying to look my best for Viney tonight, you know!”

Edric crossed his arms. “I don’t think a girl who spends her free time wrangling animals would be blown away by a chiffon.” He snorted, rolling his eyes.

“OH, you’re really just gonna say that, HUH? YOU’RE the one who suggested I try to win her over by nearly getting KILLED!”

“Emira, It was literally on your floor when I walked in earlier. Edric didn’t take it.” Amity sighed, stepping in between Edric and Emira, who were *this* close to tearing each other’s face off.

“Now, if we want to make it to the festival by 9, we should get going soon.” Amity said, digging out a crumpled flyer from her dress pocket. “Says here they’re doing a contest to see who can win Ruler of the Starlight Festival.”

Amity looked at Emira and Edric, who were giving each other death stares.

“Looks like you two could win the award for the longest and most pointless fight in history if you don’t snap out of it.” Amity grumbled, speedwalking down to the main stairwell.

“Wait! Wait for us!” Emira and Edric shouted, trampling each other, trying to get to the stairs.

“Are you two done fighting yet?” Amity looked back at the hot mess that was unfolding in the hall as Edric tried to untangle himself from Emira’s dress.

“Uh, yeah! Just, you know, give us a second!” Emira shouted.

Amity sighed, and began walking down the stairs.

_This night has to go perfect. I have to stick to whatever I have planned. I can’t mess up this plan. I just gotta—I have to make this perfect. Amity thought, crossing her arms together, and breathing out._

_I can’t—I can’t let Luz down. A-and I can’t wait for another chance to tell her how I feel about her._

She started feeling hot and stuffy.

_I mean—i-if I mess up—Luz will never like me. She’ll just think I’m weird—that I don’t fit— she’ll hate me. I’ll ruin everything between us a-and I’ll never fix it, and—_

Amity’s foot slipped from underneath her and she fell the rest of the way down the stairs, impacting the ground with a loud “OOF!”

She felt her stocking rip and blood drip from her leg.

“Mittens? Did you fall down the stairs?” Emira said, holding out her hand to help Amity up.

“Amity, you really should watch where you’re going. At this point, you’d win the contest for being the klutziest person alive.” Edric said, helping Amity get up off of the floor.

Amity shook her head. “Shut up. And I was just distracted, it’s not like I meant to trip.”  
She retorted, shooting down Ed and Em with nasty looks.

She brushed herself off and cleared her throat. “So, are we ready to go?”

Emira put her hands on her hips and smiled. “Ready when you are.”

“Are you sure you’re not gonna need a bandage for your leg? You kinda-sorta bruised it.” Edric said, a look of concern on his face.

“I’ll be fine,” Amity chuckled. “Last one to the festival is a rotting trash slug!” She said, bolting towards the front door of the manor, looking at Emira and Edric, making the L sign with her fingers.

“Oh, you are so on!” They both said, chasing after her.

• ——- •

Luz walked into the festival square, and looked around.

Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, streamers and lights flashing yellow, purple, and white encapsulated the square. People were dressed in glittering outfits, crystalline jewelry, and adorned with only the finest accessories yet.

Rows and rows of snack tables lined up one side. Tables littered with flowers— and were those placeholders?

_Dang, this place was fancy._

“Wow. So this is the Starlight Festival.” Luz said, glancing across the square dreamily.

“Ugh, and it’s hot too. Couldn’t you have picked something a little more light for me?” King groaned, tugging at his bowtie, still complaining about the ‘heat’ the entire walk to the square.

Luz rolled her eyes. “Glad you like it, King.” She said, crossing her arms, her phone in her hand. She glanced around, tapping her foot impatiently.

“I don’t know if I’m a bit early, but didn’t Gus and Willow say they’d be here about now?” Luz asked, checking the time on her phone.

 _9:05 p.m,_ it read.

 _So they should be here about now,_ Luz thought. _But why aren’t they?_

Luz stood there in her dress. The illusion the dance gave her started fading away, and she felt scrawny and weird wearing her outfit. _I shouldn’t be here. I’m making a fool out of myself. I should just leave—_

“Luz! Luz! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I had trouble getting ready to go. One of my plants ate my dress and I had to force it to spit it back up!” Willow called to Luz, running over to where she was.

“Hey, Willow! I was wondering when you’d get here. I kind of stood around waiting for you and Gus. Speaking of Gus, where exactly is he?” Luz asked.

“Erm, he said he’d be here before you and I arrived. He’s actually putting on some sort of comedy act to win Ruler of the Starlight Festival.” Willow replied, pointing over to the large stage at the center of the square.

“Did you say ‘Ruler’?” King asked, peeking his head up at the mere mention of the word.

“Aww, King looks so cute in his little outfit! Nice taste in fashion, Luz.” Willow cooed, pointing at King’s little bowtie.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What’s this about being the ruler of the festival?” King retorted.

“You see, there’s a contest in which multiple people perform multiple different acts in an attempt to win tonight’s title and crown as ‘Ruler of the Starlight Festival’. Then, the richest family there has to grant them a special wish.” Willow said. “I heard that last year’s winner was the ACCA with their performance of ‘Dying Scream’.”

King’s face formed into a thoughtful expression. “Hm. So, whoever wins this title gets to have a blessing from the richest? Sounds like a prize fit for a King!” He shouted, throwing a fist in the air. “I WILL WIN THAT CROWN! Where is Gus? We need to talk.” King demanded, looking around frantically.

Willow pointed to the stage, and King scurried off towards it.

Luz chuckled. “I figured it’d take the tease of a crown to get him to shut up about the outfit.” She grinned, looking at the stage.

Willow nodded, and smiled. “Hey Luz, look what I can do!”

She snapped her fingers and a white rose corsage appeared on Luz’s hand.

“Ta-da! Do you like it?” Willow asked, admiring her work.

Luz smiled. “I love it! It’s amazing! Thank you so much, Willow!”

Willow blushed. “It’s all in a day’s work.”

Luz beamed a smile, and glanced over to the stage.

There was a music group playing on the weirdest set of violins Luz had ever seen.

She thought for a second.

_Wait._

_Weren’t those the type of violins I ruthlessly murdered earlier?_

Luz squinted her eyes. “Hey, Willow. Quick question. What are those types of instruments called?” She said, pointing to the stage.

“Those are called dragon-rens. They sound kind of awful on their own, but only special kinds of magic can vibrate their wires, and make an actually good sound. Watch this.” Willow responded, putting her hands on her hips.

The violinists twirled their fingers and a shimmery golden circle appeared above the dragon-rens, turning the black strings a golden white. They picked up their bows and started strumming the first few notes. The rhythm they played was smooth, rich, and satisfying to hear.

“Oh. So that’s how Bard magic works.” Luz said.

——-

“Amity, Edric, wait up! Do you have any idea how hard it is to walk in this dress?” Emira shouted, stumbling behind her younger sister and twin brother.

“Sorry, Em! You probably should’ve chosen not to wear that dress to here if you were going to fall over it so much!” Edric yelled back.

Emira growled.

 _I can’t believe he has a point. I’m really only wearing this dress for Viney, and of course he chose to match._ Emira thought, slowing down her pace, and holding her dress up.

_Viney._

Emira smiled to herself. A soft blush spread across her cheeks.

Viney. The girl she asked out to the festival. The girl from the beastkeeping and healing tracks who’s snorty laugh somehow always replayed in Emira’s mind. The girl who wore her hair up in the most obnoxious beehive style, in which Em was almost 50% sure she harbored actual mice. The girl who smelled like feathers and lollipops, which sounds weird but smells surprisingly amazing and warm.

Viney, the girl who Emira’s had a majorly stupid crush on for approximately 3 months.

And only two weeks ago did she ask her to the festival, through a series of highly painful acts to impress her.

Emira was head over heels. Figuratively, and quite literally because of the dress she was wearing. “Dangit, pretentious over-perfectionist self, why couldn’t you have worn something easier to move around in?” She grumbled, pulling her dress off of the ground again and stumbling forward.

She sighed.

_Ed really is right to tease me about my crush on Viney, huh?_

She had to face the truth.

She was an absolute mess for Viney.

“Alright, Emira. You can do this. When Viney sees you, you just play it cool and act like you haven’t been worrying about her opinion of you for the past 24 hours.” Emira coached herself, catching up to Edric and Amity.

—-

“Wow, looks like we’re here.” Edric said, gazing upon the exquisite lights and streamers strung across the square. Dozens and dozens of crystal stars and orbs shone from each individual light, reflecting dozens of rays onto to ground.

Crowds and crowds of people surrounded the stage, each and every one person so different, yet all were the same blurred background.

_Dang, this place was fancy._

Emira ran up to where Ed and Amity were. “I’m-uh-I’m here! Just uh-oh-give me a second to breathe!” Emira panted, clutching her legs.

“Hey Emira, check it out, there’s gonna be a witch in scarlet performance here tonight. I think you might wanna see it.” Edric winked, making Emira’s whole face go red.

“Edric, you better shut your yaps.” Emira growled.

Amity rolled her eyes. “Great, you guys are fighting again.”

“Oh, just wait until Viney gets here with her mongrel of a beast. ‘Oooh, wow, Viney, I’m so impressed, let’s get married this instant!’” Edric mocked Emira.

“I’ll have you know that Puddles is a purebreed griffin, and she is very beautiful!” Emira retorted, crossing her arms and giving Edric a glare.

“Man, Em, if looks could kill, I’d be in my grave right now.” Edric jokingly said.

“Say another word and I’ll make you start digging it.” Emira deadpanned.

Amity winced.

Edric and Emira were on the verge of yet another insult war.

_Three..._

_Two..._

_One..._

And in came a girl with a black tuxedo, a fishook earring, and the messiest hairdo you’ve ever seen.

“Hey, Ems! Sorry I was late, I had a little pet problem!” Viney yelled to Emira.

Emira jolted up from where she was standing. She whipped around to see Viney running her way.

“Uh-Um-Viney! Didn’t uh—didn’t expect you to get here so late!” Emira stuttered, rubbing her hand against her neck, and walking over to where Viney was.

“Ah, it’s fine. I had Jerbo and Barkus help me with Puddles. Trust me, I would’ve been delayed longer had it not been for them. Speaking of that,” Viney stopped herself, and whistled out to Puddles. “C’mere girl! Show Emira your outfit!”

Puddles came dashing out of the blue, dragging Jerbo and Barkus behind her.

“Aw, good girl!” Viney said, scratching Puddles’s neck.

Emira stood in awe of what Puddles looked like.

She had a bowtie neatly tied around her neck, a tiny tophat fitted atop her head, and the most striking detail—

A tuft of feathers dyed blue.

Emira lifted an eyebrow. “Wait, you dyed Puddles’s feathers?”

Viney nodded. “Yep! I came up with the idea, and Jerbo and Barkus helped me turn it into a reality. Ya think she pulls it off?”

Surprisingly enough, Puddles pulled off the look quite well.

Emira nodded. “Yeah, she looks amazing. Great work, Viney.” She smiled.

Viney blushed a little. “Aw, shucks. You’re too sweet.”

Edric groaned. “Your sappiness is literally making me sick. I think I’m gonna go grab something to eat.” He said, strolling towards the food tables.

Jerbo handed Puddles’s leash to Viney. “I think you might want this. Me and Barkus were gonna go look for some grub, too.”

Viney took the leash and tied it around her hand, making sure to knot it tightly.

“So.. er.. I like your hairstyle. Looks like you didn’t brush it.” Emira tried to utter a compliment.

“Uh... thanks? I didn’t really have time to, I just kinda, you know, threw something on and then wrangled with Puddles for a few hours. I didn’t really notice how I looked until you pointed it out just now.” Viney replied, twirling a stringlet of messy hair.

“No, no, no, you look amazing. It’s just—I’m kind of regretting my decision to wear this dress. I look like I’m heading to a wedding.” Emira sighed, smoothing her hands over her skirt.

Viney smiled. “You look great, Em. Don’t say that about yourself. Now come on, if Edric, Jerbo, and Barkus all share the same hungry braincell, why shouldn’t we? Let’s go get something to eat.” She chuckled, grabbing Emira’s hand and tugging her over to the food stands.

“Okay, okay, maybe I am hungry!” Emira laughed, walking in tandem with Viney.

Amity shook her head and smiled.

“Guess it’s time to go meet my friends,” She said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

_Step one? Check._

——-

_Alright Amity, you can do this. No pressure. Just make your way over to Luz and the others. No, you’re not gonna trip on your heels, just walk, and look like a normal functioning witch._

Amity sucked in her breath.

“Hey, everyone! Sorry I was running a bit late, my brother and sister were acting like idiots again.” Amity called out to Luz and Willow, who were standing near the stage.

“Oh, hey Amity! Me and Willow were just waiting for Gus to come out so we could surprise him with a gift! He’s gonna love it!” Luz said, putting her hands together and smiling.

Amity’s cheeks flushed.

_Dang it, why does she have to be so cute when she smiles? Okay, just calm down. Remember. Step Two, casual conversation._

“So, er, Luz, how’d you get that dress of yours?” Amity awkwardly asked.

Luz stared down at her dress. “Well, Eda nearly broke the house trying to dig it out for me, so me, her, and King had to put it back together, so..” She said, rubbing her hand against the back of her neck.

“Uh, that’s nice. Well—um, you already know my mom picked out this dress for me, but since she’s not here, I got to wear my hair differently.” Amity said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Luz smiled. “Yeah, I um, noticed that. It looks pretty on you. I think you should wear it like that more often, Amity.”

_She thinks it looks pretty on me?_

_Wow. Uh—Um—TALK, DANGIT!_

“Thanks, Luz.” Amity said, blushing.

Okay, the only thing that could make this worse is if Willow even opens her mouth. I swear, if she opens her mouth—

“Say, Amity, you know how there’s gonna be a break during the contest’s acts to do a slow dance? You should totally dance with Luz.”

Both Luz and Amity stared at Willow with widened eyes.

Luz blushed. “Wait, what?” She said, dumbfounded.

Amity was making the death sign at Willow. _Don’t you dare, Willow. Don’t you even say it. Don’t you dare._

“Yeah! You two look adorable together!” Willow exclaimed.

She looked directly at Amity, and stuck her tongue out.

Luz stood there, stammering. “Um-uh, well you know, I just—what do you think, Amity?” She turned to Amity.

Amity froze where she was, eyes wide, face red.

Willow mouthed “Say yes!” to her.

“Um, sure?” Amity replied.

_Oh._

_Did I seriously just accept a dance with Luz?_

_Cramity. Well, that’s Step two checked off, I guess._

“I’M BAAAAACK!” Gus shouted, dancing his way out of the tent.

“YES, THE KING OF DEMONS WILL FINALLY BECOME THE KING OF COMEDY!” King followed, cheering as well.

“Places, everyone!” Willow whispered, ducking behind a sign.

Luz grabbed Amity and they both ducked under the curtain.

Gus strolled near they were. “Hellooooo? Guys? You here? I got my act planned out, wanna hear the script—“

“Surprise!” Willow shouted, popping out from behind the sign. She waved her finger and a flower bouquet appeared around Gus’s neck.

“Suprise!” Luz popped out from under the curtain and popped a plant glyph down, sprouting a bouquet on the ground for Gus.

Gus shrieked. “AAH! I thought you two were coven guards for a second!”

Willow and Luz snickered. “We got you pretty good, huh?”

Gus laughed. “You sure did! And thanks for the flowers, I really appreciate them.”

“No problem, Gus.” Willow said.

Luz looked under the curtain. “Oh, right! Amity!” She lifted her hand out for Amity to take.

“Uh, you okay? You couldn’t get up for a little bit, so I thought you were hurt for a second.” Luz said, pulling Amity off of the ground.

“I’m fine. I kinda sorta bruised myself on some stairs earlier, and it’s still kinda healing.” Amity said, rubbing her knee. “I’ll be okay.”

Luz smiled at Amity, and they stood like that for a second. Just staring into each other’s eyes.

Gus opened his mouth to speak, but Willow covered it.

“Just let it happen,” She whispered.

Luz realized what she was doing, and immediately backed away from Amity, clearing her throat. “So, um, about the slow dance thing, are you sure you’re gonna be able to do it with your bruised leg?” She said, her face a bright red.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to. If it’s not really intense dancing I’ll be able to survive it.” Amity replied, her face also a bright red.

Gus cleared his throat. “Well anyways, me and King are up in a bit on the contest, so that means the slow dance happens first. I’m going backstage to get prepared to go up. I’ll see you guys in a bit!” He said, walking back behind the stage.

Willow looked around. “Well, now’s my chance to practice my corsage-making skills on some unsuspecting victims. I’ll leave you two alone with—whatever it is you were gonna do.” Willow winked at Amity, and walked off.

Amity sighed.

_Step three, let’s hope this works._

“So, Amity, I was thinking. I’m kinda-sorta-just a teesy bit feeling hungry. You wouldn’t mind if we, you know, headed down to the food tables, would ya?” Luz said, rubbing her hand over her stomach.

“Nah, I wouldn’t. If I’m being honest with you, I’d kill for something to drink.” Amity replied, chuckling. “You wouldn’t mind if I walked you there, would you?” She asked, holding out her hand.

“I wouldn’t.” Luz smiled, taking Amity’s hand, caressing it gently. They smiled at each other, and began walking to the tables.

Amity breathed out.

_Step three, check._

—-

“Alright, King! What are we looking for in comedy?” Gus asked, marching around the back stage.

“Humor! Confidence! Character!” King yelled, throwing his fist into the air.

“What does the audience want?” Gus yelled.

“Loud voice! Loud mouth! Loud attitude!” King yelled, striking a pose.

“If someone asks you to tell them how you made your jokes, what do you say?” Gus screamed.

“NOT TODAY, SISTA!” King screamed back.

“Perfect! I think you’re all set to go on stage, King!” Gus said, putting his hands on his hips and smiling.

“I know.” King said, walking out of the tent and crossing his arms.

He looked off into the distance, where a griffin was busy nosing its way into the trash.

“Hey!” King yelled. “That’s classified territory! And by classified I mean MINE!” He yelled, chasing after the creature.

The griffin perked its head up at the sound of King’s screaming, and immediately got scared and started running off, ditching the trashcan. Its lead slipped off of the pole it was thinly tied to, and it got away easily. It dove off into the backstreets behind the square, and King chased directly after it, yelling like crazy.

There was one thing it left behind, however.

A small, teeny top hat.

——-

Viney shoved two carrots up her nose. “Blaaagh, Emira, look at me, I’m a walrus.” She paraded around, moving her hands up and down in a flapping motion. Emira snorted.

“Viney, you look like an idiot.” She chuckled, clutching her sides to keep herself from falling over.”

Jerbo rolled his eyes at Viney. “Pssh, you think she’s ridiculous? Watch what I can do with a bit of food in my nose.” He reached for another plant from the table, and stuck them up his nose. “Look at me! I’m a beached trash slug! I eat saaaaaaaalt!”

Viney facepalmed. “Jerbo, that’s not even funny. Trash slugs don’t have Unaglows as tusks.” She said, rolling her eyes,

“Well of course it’s funny! It doesn’t make sens—wait, did you say Unaglow?” Jerbo asked, pulling the flowers out of his nose.

“Yes, of course I said Unaglow. Now for the last time it’s not funny, Jerbs.” Viney grunted.

“Viney! This is what Barkus needed for his potions project! Now all I need to do is—“  
Jerbo looked at the table, then at his small hands.

He then grabbed as many Unaglow flowers as he could and started stuffing them down his shirt and up the sleeves of his tux.

He eyed everyone surrounding him, then slipped his shirt over his face.

“I am the shadows, the unnoticeable, _the untouchable~~~”_ He said, ninja running away.

Viney blinked awkwardly. “Did you see that?”

Emira looked up from stuffing a whole cheesecake in her mouth with her hand. “See what?”

Viney shook her head. “It’s nothing,” She said, sighing.

—

Amity walked hand in hand with Luz to the snack tables.

_Step four, initiate dancing._

“Well, I guess this is our stop now,” Amity said, gently letting go of Luz’s hand.

Luz smiled. “How about I pour you a glass of punch? I mean, you walked me here, it’s only fair that I give you a favor too.” She said, grabbing a cup.

Amity smirked. “My my, what a lady.” She winked, nudging Luz’s arm.

“Pssh, shut up.” Luz rolled her eyes, pouring Amity a glass of punch.

“Admit it! You like me!” Amity teased. Wait, Amity froze. _Did I seriously just say that? I’m an idiot._

Luz stopped pouring punch into the glass.

She felt a blush creep on her face.

She felt her eyes widen.

_“Admit it! You like me!”_

Those words repeated in her head.

Her grip tightened around the cup of punch.

She slowly turned around and faced Amity.

“Um, here’s your punch, I guess.” She couldn’t even look Amity in the eyes.

_Admit I like you? Wha-pssh, what are you talking about? I don’t—I don’t like you! You smell nice, I mean, your eyes are pretty, your laugh is literally the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard—_

_—I mean, I don’t know if that’s what ‘liking’ someone means._

None of those words came out of Luz’s mouth.

Only a muttered “Here’s your drink.”

Luz snapped right back to the table and started cutting herself a slice of cake.

She sighed.

_Liking someone. What does that even mean? Does it mean thinking they look nice? Does it mean meeting them once over a shared favorite library book? Or maybe it’s just them meaning the world to you._

Luz looked at Amity, who turned around, and smiled back. The wind blew her minty green hair in front of her face, and the lights illuminated her golden eyes.

_Or maybe it’s just them meaning the world to you._

Luz sighed, and closed her eyes, bracing herself for what she was about to do next.

She turned around to face Amity, when all of a sudden—

“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!” Puddles came crashing through the crowd, running right in front of Luz, King chasing after her, yelling with wild abandon.

It’s almost like you could pause this exact scene in slow motion, and every single face could tell you exactly what was going on.

Resuming the scene back to normal, Puddles screeched and jumped onto the table, yelping and roaring for help, while King was screaming obscenities.

Viney gasped and turned around, running towards Puddles. “NO! Bad girl! Off! Off of the table, now!” She yelled.

Puddles continued to screech and knocked down various vases and glassware on the table, fear in her eyes as King continued to berate and belittle her.

By this point, everyone in the crowd was looking at Puddles.

“YOU NO GOOD, TRASH-EATING WEIRDO!” King yelled.

Viney and Luz gasped.

“KING, NO!” Luz screamed.

That was the last straw for Puddles.

She sprayed spiders out of her mouth, coating King (and some other very unfortunate bystanders) in black arachnids. Her legs gave out in a splitzied frenzy, splaying out across the table uncontrollably, knocking over food, drinks, snacks, glassware, antiques, you name it.

“PUDDLES, NO!” Viney screamed, running after the griffin as she slid across the table.

Then, what happened next happened in slow motion.

The last thing Amity knew, she was enjoying a nice glass of punch.

The next thing she knew, Puddles slid into the punch bowl, shattering it into a million pieces, getting juice (and a fair bit of blood too) over Amity and her dress.

——-

The crowd went silent, as Amity was temporarily frozen of fear.

Luz ran over to help her up.

“Oh my gosh, Amity, I’m so sorry, I’ll get you a bandage, just—“

Luz’s words were starting to cut off to her.

Her dress was soaked with punch, her hair was wet and messed up, and cuts littered her legs, but that didn’t matter to her.

Because when she looked up, everyone was taking photos of her.

Laughing at her.

Tears started to well in her eyes.

Luz lifted her up, and looked her in the eyes, brushing aside the wet hair that had splayed across Amity’s face.

“Are you okay, Amity?” She asked, softly.

Amity’s eyes widened with fear. Everyone was staring at her. Taking photos. Laughing at her.

She frantically looked back at Luz, and back at the crowd and back to Luz, her breathing rapidly speeding up. She felt herself sweating, her feet weakening, her whole body collapsing.

She tore her hand from Luz’s and let out a sob, before running off from the square.

Luz stood there, hand still held out, a still expression on her face.

She glanced around at the crowd, who were busy chatting and laughing.

She sucked in her breath and ran after Amity.

——-

Luz blindly walked the streets of Bonesborough, looking for Amity.

“Amity!” She called out, until her voice went hoarse and all she could do was gently sob. Tears welled in her eyes. She felt hot, and stuffy.

Why didn’t she try to stop this from happening? If she had just done something—anything—then none of this would be happening. All of it was suffocating her.

“Amity!” She called out one last time, before she knew she wouldn’t be able to anymore.

In the distance, she heard something.

A sniffle.

Luz ran to where the sound was. If it was Amity, she had to be crying.

Luz stumbled into a small plaza pavilion, surrounded by trees. She smiled.

Of all the places Amity would be, this is one of the most obvious.

The stone-dug ground shone with the light of the starlight festival lanterns. A railing encased almost the whole plaza-pavilion, strung with star and orb-like lights.

Stars shone in through the night sky, making the pavilion shine ethereally.

The lights reflected off of Luz’s dress, making the stars on it dazzle.

And of course, Amity was sitting on the ground, head in her knees, sobbing softly.

Luz sat down next to her.

“You okay?” Luz asked, a face of concern masked by a friendly smile.

Amity didn’t answer.

Luz sighed.

“Look. I know you don’t want to answer me. That’s perfectly fine. But I just—I just wanna make sure you’re okay, Amity. I care about you. I just wanna make sure you’re doing fine.” Luz sighed, putting a hand on Amity’s shoulder. “And I want you to know that after this, you can hate me for as long as you want. Forever and ever.”

Luz moved closer to Amity. “Just say something. Anything.”

Amity’s foot moved.

Her hand adjusted positions, and she gently cupped it over Luz’s.

“I’m alright.” She heard Amity mumble.

Luz perked up, and a blush spread across her cheeks. “So, um. About your dress. I’m really, really sorry.” She apologized, crossing her arms and sighing, her tone soft and distant.

“It isn’t your fault, anyways. And you wanna know something funny?” Amity asked, lifting her head out of her lap, her face still wet and red.

“What?” Luz replied, staring back at her.

“I hated this dress anyways. It’s too overdecorated.” Amity said, chuckling.

Luz giggled. “Purple definitely isn’t your color.”

“Ugh, by now I’m probably all over Penstagram. I’ll be the talk of the festival. I can see the posts now. ‘@witchchick128, the ultimate festival fail’.” Amity sighed, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

“It doesn’t matter what they think, you know. If you wanna know my opinion, I think you pull off the look quite well.” Luz said, smiling. She held out her hand to Amity and helped her get up off the ground.

Amity beamed at that. They both looked at each other, starry-eyed and dazed.

Luz’s smile turned to concern. “So, if you hated your dress in the first place, why did you run away from the dance?”

Amity sighed.

_If I tell Luz, maybe I won’t regret it this time._

“It’s because I planned this night to go a certain way. To be a certain way. I don’t know—I guess I just wanted everything to be perfect.” Amity looked down, sighing shakily.

It went silent.

_I knew I shouldn’t have told her._

“Why let tonight be ruined by one small incident then?” Luz asked, her frown forming into a smirk and twinkles lighting up her eyes.

“Wait, what?” Amity asked, snapping out of the daze she’d been in.

“There’s no point in letting tonight be ruined by one small incident. As long as we’re both here, we can both make our nights better.” Luz said, holding her hand out for Amity to take it.

“And what do you mean by that?” Amity asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“You want this night to go perfect? Then let’s make it perfect.” Luz replied, a look of determination on her face.

She looked down at her hand, and then back to Amity, who was still debating whether to take it or not.

“May I have this dance?” Luz asked.

Amity hesitated to take her hand, but a goofy grin spread across her face.

She took her hand.

“Absolutely.” Amity replied.

——-

“I am so extremely sorry about tonight’s attack on the snack tables. To make up for it, please, have some comedy, and a heartfelt apology about a bird eating trash.” King said, looking at Gus and Willow, who were behind the stage mouthing what to say to King.

Willow facepalmed and Gus rolled his eyes and stepped out onto the stage.

“We’ve prepared a three-act course for all your guffaws and chortles! And to start off the night, let’s give it up for our amazing broadcaster, Perry Porter!” Gus exclaimed, pointing to his dad, who was reporting the festival. He waved back.

King cleared his throat.

_Okay, King, just say words._

“So, haha. Blood. You know that one specific stupid liquid that leaks out of your body when something particularly egregious manages to cut you open? Can you believe that stuff’s never actually supposed to see the light of day?” King started off, jokingly.

A female audience member raised her hand. “I BEG TO DIFFER!” King could hear her yell.

“Wow, it seems we have an outlier. How many times a day are you getting hurt, miss?” King asked, holding the microphone over to the lady.

“Oh, no. My situation is much worse than getting hurt you know.” She said, grunting.

King laughed nervously. He looked back to the stage, where Willow was mouthing “NO” to him.

He immediately backed away and changed topics. “Well, alright then, if some of your guys’s blood is meant to come out, did you know that if you’re lucky, your brain will live in eternal darkness?”

—

Viney walked into the alley next to the stage with a hose and a bucket. She sighed.

“Puddles, c’mon girl, I know you’re digging in the trash again.” She coaxed, whistling over to the griffin digging up trash and eating it.

Puddles peeked her head from the garbage can. She started growling at Viney.

“Shhh, shh, it’s okay, girl. I’m not gonna hurt you.” Viney cooed, stepping over to Puddles and gently nuzzling her feathers. “It’s alright.”

Puddles rubbed against Viney with her beak, cooing aswell.

“Now, let’s get you cleaned up.” Viney said, and with a twirl of her finger water shot out of the hose.

Viney dipped a scrub brush in a bucket and lathered it, spreading it over Puddles’s feathers.

Emira peeked from behind the curtain. There Viney was, all alone by herself in the dark alley, cleaning up her pet griffin.

 _This is it,_ Emira thought. _Go! Make your move on her._

“So, uh, Viney. You-uh, you need any help with that, or—“ Emira started off, walking over to where Viney was hosing down Puddles.

“I might,” Viney said, dousing water over Puddles’s wings.

“Emira grabbed the scrub brush left in the bucket and started cleaning up the food that was mushed all over Puddles’s paws. “So, uh, tonight was kind of rough. And I’m really, really sorry about that.” She said, getting soap all over her dress and arms.

“It’s no biggie. At least everyone’s alive. Although I have my doubts about the guy who was covered in spiders,” Viney said, chuckling.

Emira laughed. “I think they’ll be okay. King was covered in spiders, and look at him! He’s—performing some really... _really_ terrible comedy.” Emira winced, looking at King trying to make an actually funny joke on stage.

“Pff! Yeah, he sure is.” Viney snorted.

_There it is again._

_That adorable laugh._

Emira moved closer to where Viney was. “So, I know tonight has been terrible, but I kind of wanted to do something with you before it ends. Something.. special?” Emira said, twirling her fingers and smiling.

Viney grinned. “Well, I guess we could do something right now then. Puddles isn’t gonna get any cleaner than this, so I think she might be able to fly.”

Emira’s eyes widened. “Um—fly? I don’t—I mean, that’s not really a necessary—WAUGH!” Emira shrieked as Viney pulled her onto Puddles’s back, and they shot off from the ground.

“Em, you can open your eyes now, you know.” Viney said softly.

“Um-er, okay.” Emira breathed in, and her eyes fluttered open.

Far below them were the bones of the Isles, instead being covered by soft, fluffy purple clouds. Everywhere as far as the eye could see, millions of stars illuminated the night.

Emira had never seen anything like it before.

Viney laughed. “Cat got your toungue?”

Emira blushed. “A little.”

“I fly up here all the time at night. Then, it’s just me, Puddles, and the shine of the stars and moon. You know, it helps calm the nerves.” Viney replied.

Emira smiled. “So I guess this is your special thing you wanted to do?”

Viney nodded, turning around to face Emira. “Can you do better?” She smirked.

Emira gave a sly expression back. “You know, I think I can.”

She breathed in.

_Now’s your chance._

She put a hand around Viney’s face, twirling a stringlet of her hair. “There’s kind of a reason why I wanted to ask you out to the festival, Viney.” Emira started, bracing herself for the worst.

“Look, I’ve had this really stupid crush on you for a while, and I planned on telling you eventually. It might seem strange, and kinda weird, but you mean a lot to me. Tonight was sort of my gift to you for, I don’t know, changing my world.” Emira said, smiling to herself.

Viney just sat there, face red.

Emira sighed. “I mean—it’s okay if you don’t like me back, I just—“

Viney pulled Emira in and kissed her.

And when they pulled away, Viney smiled.

“Funny thing is, I’ve had the exact same feeling about you too, Em.” She held Emira’s hand in hers.

Emira looked down at her dress. “Guess I’m gonna have to have you washed.” She laughed, looking at all the stains she accumulated from cleaning Puddles.

Viney chuckled. “I’m sure your weird dress will be fine. Just.. try to enjoy this night. While it lasts.” She said, beaming.

Emira nodded, and her and Viney held hands, gazing at the stars, on the back of Puddles.

——-

“So I know our music tastes kinda differ, but I thought maybe you’d like what I chose,” Luz said, scrolling on her phone.

_Hm. Drawing playlist? Nah, I’m definitely not drawing right now. Fanfic playlist? I sure wish I could write... Aha! Prom playlist._

Luz pressed “play” and stood up. She brushed her dress off, and turned to Amity.

“So. Um. I’m gonna assume you know how to dance.” She said, awkwardly.

Amity rolled her eyes. “Of course I do.” She took Luz’s hand, and pulled her in closer.

“My mom made me take dancing lessons when I was 7. Worst time of my life.” Amity said, doing a slow and probably really awkward box waltz with Luz.

“I’ve always learned how to dance by watching people fail at dancing.” Luz laughed. “Only, like 10% of my knowledge about it is is from being dragged to tango lessons with my mom,” Luz said, stepping out of the box waltz and doing a spin, briefly letting go of Amity’s hand, only to spin right back to her.

“I remember accidentally twisting my ankle while trying to dance in front of my mom. She wasn’t happy, I’ll tell you that.” Amity chuckled, taking a strong step back and sweeping her heel over the ground, spinning on her heel.

“I remember my mom giving me piggyback rides to her tango classes. She’d always make me dance the salsa with her, even though I was 8 and didn’t know a whole lot about dancing. I kept falling flat on my face.” Luz replied, spinning a half-circle on her heel and nearly reeling to the floor, but she managed to pick herself up again.

Amity chuckled, swaying her body to the side and taking a step to the side of Luz, her earrings swishing to her movements. “I thought you said you were good at this, Luz.”

Luz sharply turned to parallel to Amity, her flats smoothing the stone ground, and her dress billowing at her knees. She smirked. “I am! It’s just—I haven’t danced in—I don’t know how long. It kind of takes me a while to get the hang of it, and with what moves you’re pulling, it’ll take me even longer to adjust.”

They continued to move and spin around each other. With every new note Luz’s phone played, a new step was taken, and each time, they’d end up holding hands doing the waltz, back to square one.

 _Sure is awfully circular,_ Luz kept thinking. They repeat the same moves over and over again, occasionally messing up until they get it right. And each time Luz slipped, Amity helped her up, and they continued dancing. Then, they’d add another move to the dance, continuing the conversation they were having through repeated bouts of playful banter.

Both Luz and Amity felt somewhat intertwined with each other in that moment.

Brief smiles, blushing, and starry-eyed looks littered throughout the dance made that statement clear.

Starry-eyed, Luz thought, spinning around on her heel. She looked at Amity, who mirrored her actions.

 _Starry-eyed._ Luz smiled, as she danced.

——-

_Initiate Step Five: Confess._

Amity sighed.

Amity, even though she had the calmest, straightest face while dancing with Luz, her whole world was tearing apart at the stitches. She remembers learning how to dance from the various instructors her mom hired, but Luz made her do entirely new moves she’d never experienced. 

She felt red in the cheeks. She knew it. Amity was blushing. And she didn’t (and couldn’t) hide it. To be honest, if anything, these new moves didn’t make her feel constricted like learning box steps with Unnamed Dance Instructor #8. She did feel like she was going to stumble and trip because her legs were weak, but every time she thought of doing that, she instantly knew her and Luz’s faces would only be inches apart. 

That would be so, _so_ awkward.

She knew she was falling. Her feet ached numb with every time her heel touched the stone street, her face felt red and stuffy, and she felt like she was going so suffocate.

She wished she’d just make a move already.

Amity hadn’t felt this way since grom. Not since she originally danced with Luz. But being with her now? Knowing what and exactly how she felt about Luz? Having analyzed, justified, criticized, cited, and repressed every single little detail about it? She could barely keep focused on dancing.

Amity dreamily looked into Luz’s eyes, definitely knowing Luz was going to notice. They were cocoa brown, curious, inviting...

“Uh.. Amity? You okay? You seem like you’re gonna fall. Are you tired?”

Oh. She noticed.

“Uh—um, yeah! I’m fine, just—a bit exhausted from what happened tonight.” Amity responded awkwardly.

Luz smiled. “Glad we’re past that mess. And look at that! Your dress dried up!”

Amity stared at her outfit, soaked with red punch. “You know, I think it looks better this way.” She chuckled, admiring it.

 _Just wait,_ Amity thought. _Maybe I don’t need to follow a plan._

_I mean, I got to dance with Luz without a plan. That’s worth something, right?_

Amity sighed, and took a strong step back again, spinning on her heel.

She turned her head around and focused on Luz, who was smiling.

Amity breathed in. _No more beating around the bush._

—

“—And that, my friends, is why the human world is a giant magnet!” King yelled, throwing a hand up in the air. He got hit by a tomato. “Ow! How dare you throw offerings at me! I am your King of Comedy! You WILL appease me!” He screamed as people threw food at him.

Gus ran around backstage, panicking. “I should’ve never let King join my comedy act! He isn’t even that funny!” He yelled, tapping his foot against the ground.

Willow breathed in. “You know, maybe if we will it hard enough, something actually funny will happen. Like, I don’t know, a griffin comes spiraling out of the sky and lands directly on King.”

Gus gasped. “Willow, you do not want to mess with the forces of luck. The humans say a simple toss of a penny can change the course of a life!” Gus frantically responded.

Willow rolled her eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“SCREEEEEECHHH!” Puddles cawed, whirling out of the air and towards the stage, coming right for King.

“PUDDLES! PUDDLES! HEED! STOP!” Viney yelled, pulling on Puddles’s fur.

“Well, guys, looks like we have an aerial guest coming to view my show!” King gestured to the giant griffin lunging down at him.

“KING, MOVE OUT OF THE WAAAAAAAY!” Emira shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

King looked up. His eyes went wide. “Not a fan of my comedy, huh?” He chuckled, nervously.

“Oh no.”

_THUD!_

Willow and Gus snapped their heads around at the sound of the noise. “Uh... what was that?” Willow asked, cautiously.

“I told you, Willow, you shouldn’t mess with the forces of luck!” Gus shouted, running onto the stage. Willow followed after him.

Puddles was plopped on top of King, quietly loafing with her eyes closed. Emira and Viney hopped off of Puddles and stared at what happened.

Willow and Gus ran out into the open.

Gus tugged Willow’s arm. “I told you you shouldn’t mess with the forces of luck, Willow!”

King crawled out from underneath Puddles and sighed, looking at Gus.

“Gus, I’m so sorry. Throughout all of this night not only have I made terrible jokes, but I also didn’t get to enjoy the festival. I mean, look! I made a griffin mad, I got coated in spiders, and most of all, I got someone hurt in the process. I should’ve been a better friend. I know I don’t deserve to win the contest.”

Gus teared up. “I accept your apology, King.” Gus helped walked over to help King up, and they both glanced at the crowd.

The crowd went silent for a second. But all of a sudden, a cheer erupted across the square.

King and Gus stood where they were for a second, surprised.

“Well,” The contest announcer said. “It looks like we have two winners for this year’s Ruler of the Starlight Festival! Give it up for Gus Porter and the King Of Demons!”

A crown appeared in Gus’s hands, and rose petals fell on them both.

Gus was sobbing at this point. “Thank you, *sniff* Thank you everyone!”

King was happy too, but his glance instantly fell over to the crown in Gus’s hands.

He snatched the crown out of Gus’s grip and went to put it on his head, but he glanced over to Puddles.

Puddles looked back at King and whimpered, and for once, King didn’t want a crown.

“Um, everyone?” King tapped onto his microphone, and the audience’s attention shifted to him.

“I, as the King, would like to instead give this crown as a reward to the best griffin out there, who I’m very sorry for yelling at.” King walked over to Puddles, and fit the crown over her head.

“I’m sorry, Puddles. Will you forgive me, and take this crown?” King asked, holding out his hands to Puddles.

Puddles looked at King and cooed, licking King on the head. “Okay—stop! Stop! You don’t have to do that!” He yelled.

The crowd cheered and aww-d.

Gus and King walked off of the stage victoriously.

“Did you see that? They loved me!” King exclaimed.

“They sure did!” Gus said, smiling.

Willow walked up to Gus and King. “Did you guys happen to see where Luz and Amity went?”

King rubbed his forehead. “I haven’t seen Luz or Amity since... _oh no._ ” He gasped.

“We have to make sure they’re okay!” Willow said. “Come on, let’s go look for them!” She yelled, running off from the stage. Gus and King nodded and followed her.

——-

_This is it._

_You’re gonna do it. You’re gonna tell her._

Amity breathed in.

Her steps slowed down, and she gently grasped Luz’s hand.

“So, uh. I-um—Luz, I’ve kind of been wanting to tell you something tonight.” Amity started off, her mouth still getting a feel for the words coming out of it.

Luz looked directly at Amity, and she stopped dancing, their hands intertwined.

“Yeah?” Luz replied, her voice soft.

Amity breathed in again.

“Look, Luz. I’m—I’m really happy you were my date tonight. If it had been anyone else, I don’t think I would’ve had such a good time here.” Amity continued, finally able to make eye contact with Luz. Her heart rate started jumping, and she knew her hands were perspiring.

Luz smiled and blushed, playing with a strand of hair. “I can’t thank you enough for being my date either. Tonight was chaotic, but—you know, in a good way.”

Amity smiled. “I don’t think I could’ve picked a more perfect person to go with.”

_Alright, enough with the cheesy compliments. Just spit it out already!_

Amity inhaled.

She glanced at Luz, who was smiling back happily.

And any coherence or confidence she had before evaporated.

“So, u-um, with that said I-just—I would, um—I uh—“ Amity stumbled over her words in an attempt to form a sentence. She could feel her brain turning to mush, her dumb heart rate speeding up, her whole body sweating.

She bit her tongue.

_She can’t hold it in any longer. At some point, all the feelings are gonna have to come flooding out._

Amity tightened her grip on Luz’s hand, shakily sighing.

“Luz, I—“

“LUZ! AMITY! There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Willow, Gus, and King came running over to where Luz and Amity were, yelling and whatnot.

Luz turned around. “Hey, Willow! Hey, Gus and King! What are you doing here?” She said, waving back to them, breaking from Amity’s grasp.

“We were wondering where you two had went. King said he hadn’t seen you since the whole ‘Punch bowl’ incident.” Willow said, crossing her arms and putting her hands on her hips.

Gus looked at Luz and Amity. “So what exactly _were_ you two doing before we got here?”

Both Luz and Amity froze.

“Uh-um, you know, just—uh, dancing! Dancing and talking!” Luz stammered.

Amity just nodded. “Yep, wow, dancing.”

Willow looked at Amity. “Oh, and sorry about your dress.” She winked at Amity.

Amity glared back.

“Well, funny enough, the slow dance was delayed after all the shenanigans went down. The slow dance should be happening about now, if you two wanted to continue—“ Gus said, eyeing Luz and Amity, “Whatever this is.”

Luz smiled. “Well, whaddya say, Amity? Care for another dance?” She asked, holding out her hand for Amity to take.

Amity smiled.

“I wouldn’t mind.” She said, gently encompassing Luz’s hand in hers.

“Then let’s go! We don’t have all night!” Gus said, running back.

Willow chased after him. “Last one back is a rotten trash slug!” She yelled to Luz and Amity.

“Oh, you are so ON!” Luz yelled back, bolting after Willow.

Amity rolled her eyes. She gazed at the pavilion one last time before she followed her friends,

She smiled.

_I don’t think I’ll forget this night._

She followed after Luz, Willow, and Gus.

——-

(Two hours later)

——-

Luz and Amity talked together, walking hand in hand up to The Owl House, King racing past them both.

“—And then I destroyed the weird little demon’s stand with the house!” Luz said, chuckling.

“Sounds like you had a lot of fun that night,” Amity said, laughing. “I only remember seeing pictures of you, Gus, and Willow popping up on my Penstagram feed, and being livid out of my mind!”

Luz smiled, and stopped to look at the house, before turning back to Amity.

“Well, I guess this is our stop,” She said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Something tells me this night passed by fast.” Amity joked, looking at the moon, which was nearly across the sky by now.

“Yeah. I’m glad I got to have a good time tonight. With you, especially. Thanks, Amity.” Luz said, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

“I’m happy I got to spend this night with you too, Luz.” Amity said. “But there is something I wanted to give you before you go.”

Amity reached into the pocket of her dress, and pulled out two pearly yellow star-shaped earrings.

“I kind of debated wearing these tonight, since my mom and dad wouldn’t be in town to judge what I wore. I wore these earrings a lot when I was a kid, until my mom told me she didn’t like me wearing them. I threw them in my drawer and left them to grow dust. But as much as I wanted to put them on, I didn’t think they looked that good on me.” Amity said, gently taking Luz’s hand, and dropping the earrings in them.

“I thought they’d fit you better.” Amity smiled.

Luz blushed.

“They look amazing. Thanks, Ami.” She said, admiring the earrings in the palm of her hand.

Amity sighed. “I.. guess this is goodbye.”

Luz smiled. “I’ll see you at Hexside on Monday.”

Amity started walking off, waving back to Luz. “Bye!”

Luz waved back dazily. “Bye, Amity.”

She smiled to herself and looked at the earrings in her hands, before turning to walk to the house.

“Ahem.” King said, leaning against the door.

Luz nearly shot up. “King! Uh, um—how long have you been standing there?” She stammered.

“Long enough.” King responded, rolling his eyes.

“What do you mean by that?” Luz asked.

“You mean it’s not obvious to you?” King retorted, throwing his hands in the air.

Luz blinked.

“Amity likes you!” King yelled.

Luz froze.

“Amity... what?”

“She’s got a crush on you! I’m honestly surprised you didn’t figure it out sooner.” King said, crossing his arms.

“ _Pfft,_ what? Amity—Amity doesn’t like me. Where’d you get that thought from?” Luz stuttered, her whole face red.

“Well, maybe you just haven’t been looking hard enough.” King said, sighing and turning around.

“And, by the way, I’m sorry about the way I acted tonight. I never got to enjoy the festival fully because my judgements weighed me down. I’m sorry I insulted the outfit you picked for me, Luz. It looks amazing.” King said, his voice softening.

Luz smiled.

“I forgive you, King.” She said, and they opened the door, and walked inside.

—

King was almost to the stairs, almost out of the woods, when—

“So, King, I heard a griffin got loose tonight and attacked some people at the festival.” Eda deadpanned.

King’s blood froze.

He slowly turned around. “Ha, I know of no such thing!” He nervously laughed.

Eda frowned. “King, what did you do?”

King laughed nervously. “Luz, _help me._ ” He whispered.

Luz shrugged. “Sorry King, you’re on your own.” She walked upstairs, and as she did, she could hear Eda telling King off.

She chuckled.

——-

Luz changed into her pajamas, and fell on her sleeping bag, ready to fall asleep instantly.

Her head ached and her whole body felt heavy from dancing so much.

The window above her blew in cool air, but that didn’t help the fact that she was sweating so much.

She sighed, and reached into her bag’s pocket, which was lying next to her bed.

Luz pulled out the pair of earrings Amity gave her, and played with them in her hand.

She sighed.

Luz couldn’t shake off what King had said to her earlier.

_“Amity’s got a crush on you! I’m surprised you didn’t figure that out sooner.”_

She felt a hot flush creep up on her cheeks.

_Amity likes me._

Luz gulped.

_Not just as a friend._

She gently caressed the earrings in her hands.

_Amity likes me, and not as a friend. As a lover. As someone you’d like. As in, she likes me. Me, Luz Noceda. Amity likes me. Amity—_

Luz cut her thoughts off and shot up, nearly losing her breath. She felt her whole body sweating and her eyes seeing stars.

_And what if I liked her back?_

_What if I liked her?_

Luz exhaled, letting tears well in her eyes.

_Liking someone means probably finding that they’re pretty, or that they dance good, or that they smell like strawberries and cloudfluff, or maybe it’s just them meaning the world to you._

Luz blinked, feeling tears escape.

_Or maybe it’s just them meaning the world to you._

Amity meant the world to Luz.

Maybe it was the way she laughed, or the way she styled her hair, or even maybe how she always managed to make Luz feel better.

But she meant so much to Luz.

And Luz then realized.

Everything she’d said, everything she’d done at the festival. Chasing after Amity when she broke down, offering to dance with Amity, and letting her walk her home.

She did it because she liked Amity.

Luz set the earrings down on the ground. She wiped the tears off of her face with her hand, and stared at the ceiling.

“Mom, I never really got to finish what I was saying to you earlier. Truth is, I know you’re gonna be mad at me for leaving and going to a demon realm to practice witchcraft. You’re gonna drag me by the ear, and ground me for a really, really long time. But I just want you to know—even though we’re probably a million miles apart, I love you.” Luz said to herself, teary-eyed.

She looked at the photo of her and her mom that she always propped next to her bed.

“The Boiling Isles are like my home away from home, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want a big hug from you, and for you to tell me everything’s okay.” Luz picked up the photo, stroking the frame fondly.

She sighed, and smiled through her tears.

_“Estaré en casa pronto, mamá. te quiero.”_

Luz set the photo back down on the ground.

She nuzzled into her sleeping bag, and looked out the window.

It’s beautiful outside tonight, and the lights over the city illuminate the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> as always, i’d love to see what you guys think of this fic, so please, feel free to commentate on my suffering!
> 
> luz’s prom playlist: all about us - https://youtu.be/dn0SUa8pIyY | see the stars - https://youtu.be/Mp8JhsaoC2A | glad you came - https://youtu.be/qSgeezIP0mk
> 
> if you liked this fic, feel free to leave a kudos!
> 
> and if you want more updates on this fic (since it’s gonna be a series) among other fics and things in general as well, feel free to follow me on tumblr! https://elliestarss.tumblr.com/


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